Foreigners also fall in line to experience Black Nazarene ‘pahalik’

The long lines of people waiting to touch the Black Nazarene at the Quirino Grandstand includes not just devotees from all over the Philippines but also foreigners wanting to experience a phenomenon they'd only heard about. 

Han Seong Sik, a journalist from South Korea, was among several foreign visitors who visited the Quirino Grandstand on Wednesday and fell in line for hours just to touch the religious image.

Han said he only came to know about the Feast of the Black Nazarene when he was already in Manila filming a documentary about the Philippines.

“We’re making a documentary on the Philippines because the country is very popular to Koreans. While filming, we heard about the Black Nazarene and the miracles [associated with it],” he said in a report aired on “24 Oras.”

The journalist said he was encouraged to participate in the “pahalik” or touching of the statue of the Black Nazarene because of the faith shown by the devotees he met while he was in Manila.

“When I touched the image, I just felt something in my heart. I think [the image] is really miraculous,” he said.

A group of Ukrainian tourists who also took part in the pahalik said they timed their vacation to the Philippines to witness the religious feast.

The highlight of the feast will be the traslacion on Jan. 9, where barefoot devotees accompany the image of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park back to Quiapo Church.

Thursday’s traslacion is bound to be longer than past processions due to the rerouting of the procession to avoid the much weakened MacArthur bridge.

The parish priest of Quiapo Church recently said he expects the number of devotees participating in the feast to double this year from last year as a response to the recent natural and man-made disasters the country has experienced. — Xianne Arcangel/BM, GMA News